It is still worthy to immigrate to Canada

Immigration, which is the desire of one to move from his/her country to permanently settle in another country is an ancient phenomenon, that could be traced back, even to the 12th century. Immigration could be for several reasons, Economic, social or for reasons of persecution. Prior to 1900, immigration to Canada has a lackluster period in its history, not until the great depression of 1873 - 1896 which gripped the Europe and North America , and a soaring demand for foodstuff did immigration became noticeably, to Canada.

By 1945, the Immigration policy in Canada could be classified into “open door” which literally means that everyone is welcome. There was the “economically self serving” policy of where all farmers are welcome to the prairies. A “good immigrant” is one that stays on the farm, while a “bad immigrant” is one that goes to the city to look for scarce industrial jobs, under this policy. There was also the assimilation policy of Preferred category, only Whites of British and American origin, the “acceptable” of the Asian and East European origin, to work on the farms, and of course, the Blacks that are not acceptable.

However, immigration has continued to regulate economic cycles because of its dynamic nature. Canada needs men and women with capital, skills, especially in the technology. The reduced number of births per family, and the ageing population requires more immigrants. The Government of Canada, realizing the immediate and future gap between specialized skills have continued to regulate, modify and put in place measures to increase immigrants into Canada through several programs. Canada created the Immigration and Refugee Board to regulate the admission. Canada, a signatory to the international Refugee Convention admitted 12% of the over 200,000 immigrants of 2010 through the Refugee Program.

One of the main immigration objectives of the IRPA is to unite families in Canada, hence the sponsorship application program for the family class, as well as the Super Visa for parents and grandparents to ease congestion, and reduce frustration in the hitherto hectic and long-wait to obtain Canadian immigration visas. For the Economic growth, there is the Investor/Business program in partnership with the provinces and Territories.

This policy has brought into Canada, capital through the Investors and required skills lacking in Canada. Canada admitted over 200,000 permanent residents in 2010, 22% from the family class. To ensure that international student who come to study in Canada are retained to contribute to the Economy, the Canadian Experience class was created. The International students who obtain their Masters degree, as well as Ph.d students have great opportunities of becoming permanent residents through recent immigration process created for this class. The Minister in charge of CIC was empowered by the Parliament to issue positive Ministerial instruction, and one of this is the Federal Skilled Workers program which is a pont pass/ fail system, to address specific needs in the labour market for certain professionals per year.

In this effort to improve Immigration into Canada, there has been unprecedented application that has led to a huge backlog. All efforts to reduce this backlog has failed, and the recent cancellation of 284,000 Federal skilled workers application from 2008 downwards, seems frustrating and may make applicants to consider if its worth immigrating again to Canada ($130 million of cancelled application fee to be refunded). The attitude of Visa officers, the increasing application fees, may lead to the question, if its still worth immigrating to Canada. It must be noted that the health and safety of Canadians, and the security of Canada society is very important, hence the need for scrutiny of all applications.

It is still worthy to immigrate to Canada because of the growth of Canada economy. It is a nation that in the last ten years has witnessed phenomenal expansion. Canada is very safe. Canada believes in Family staying together, Canada believes in multiculturalism, Canada is a land of equal opportunities for Citizens and Permanent Residents, Canada respects international conventions, particularly for Refugees and persons in need of Protection. Canada needs and continue to require labour in Medicine, science and Technology. Canada has a very small population, vis a vis its massive land area. The discrimination based on Color as it was before 1945, is no longer in existence.

Though the process is being somewhat manipulated to achieve political mileage, as against the original intention in immigration, such as the obnoxious bill c.31, it is still in the short and long run, a country to immigrate into. The continued improvement and flexibility in immigration process makes Canada, worth the while.

Anthony FajobiImmigration Program Student at Ashton College
under the tutelage of Jose Godoy Toku